Only Oscar-winner for “Artistic” film on BluRay

By Christopher P. Jacobs
Staff Writer

The nominations for this year’s Oscars ceremony were announced the first week of February, and for the first time since 1943 they have ten nominees for Best Picture. The very first Oscars divided the “Best Picture” into two categories of three contenders each: “Outstanding Picture” and “Unique and Artistic Picture,” but that was reduced to a single category of five contenders for the next three years, and expanded to between eight and twelve nominees from 1932-1943 (often considered the “golden age” of Hollywood). For the 1944 releases, they cut back to five nominees, which it remained through last year.

The first and only film ever to win the Academy Award for “Most Artistic or Unique Production” was the Fox film, “Sunrise,” which also picked up Oscars for “Best Actress” (Janet Gaynor) and “Best Cinematography” (Charles Rosher and Karl Struss). Art director Rochus Gliese was also under consideration, but lost to William Cameron Menzies’ designs for “The Dove” and “Tempest.” Since its release in 1927, “Sunrise” has made numerous critical lists of top 10 and top 100 films of all time.

Even in his own time, German director F. W. Murnau (“Nosferatu,” “Faust”) was recognized as one of the world’s major filmmakers, and had been brought to Hollywood to help raise the standards of American films. His first American project was “Sunrise.” One would expect such a prestigious film to be a natural for home video release, but it has been difficult and/or expensive to get hold of.

“Sunrise” came out in a nice DVD edition in 2003 with lots of great bonus features; however, it was first available only by sending in proof-of-purchase from three other titles in 20th Century Fox’s classics series, then only in a four-disc set. Five years later “Sunrise” was included in Fox’s magnificent 12-disc box set of films directed by F. W. Murnau and Frank Borzage, and this time included an alternate European cut discovered in Prague, as well. That version is 15 minutes shorter and often uses different takes, but the original 1927 print survived with higher picture quality than the American release, whose original negative was destroyed in a 1937 fire. Thus, all copies had to be made from other copies.

Now both versions of “Sunrise” are available on BluRay in a wonderful high-definition transfer, but only through Britain’s Eureka! label in their “Masters of Cinema” series. Luckily it’s an all-region disc that can play on BluRay players worldwide, and its bonus materials are compatible with America’s NTSC video format. The BluRay of “Sunrise” can easily be ordered through Amazon.co.uk. with the cost converted automatically to American dollars.
“Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans” is an intimate, emotional story of love lost and regained, complicated by disenchantment with a once-idyllic rural life, temptation to murder, regret, renewal, with and an unexpected intervention of nature to complicate things. A simple farmer falls prey to the charms of a city woman who convinces him he should kill his wife, sell the farm, and move to the city with her for a more exciting life.

Far more than a trite love triangle, the film constantly contrasts good and evil, light and dark, innocence and guilt, country and city, peasant and bourgeoisie, traditional and modern. Using elements of German Expressionism, Murnau deliberately distorts settings and actors’ movements to a certain extent, in order to emphasize his themes visually and to give them a timeless setting rather than tying them to a specific period and location. The stylization may seem quaint at first to viewers unfamiliar with silent film conventions, but despite occasional excesses, the film rewards the time it may take to see it for what it is.

“Sunrise” was made near the end of cinema’s silent era, and requires very few titles to explain action or dialogue. In 1927, Fox studios recorded a soundtrack of music and sound effects to accompany the film in theatres that had already installed sound equipment. That track was restored and is included with both versions here (condensed to match the shorter Czech release), with an alternate new orchestra score in digital stereo on the American version.

Because the surviving American version of “Sunrise” looks slightly soft, the BluRay’s hi-def upgrade shows only a marginal improvement over the DVD release, but does reveal slightly more of the lower image area than the DVD. However, the BluRay’s picture quality on the Czech version is incredibly crisper and clearer, as sharp as a film copy would be.

Although a quarter-hour shorter, the Czech version doesn’t really delete any scenes. Some scenes are slightly shorter, and others are missing shots or frames, or have different takes or angles, occasionally in a different order. Because it was a silent print, it also has the full 1.33:1 picture width, whereas the American version has the nearly square 1.2:1 ratio that resulted when the soundtrack was added.

Bonus materials are essentially the same as were on the DVD, including a very informative and appreciative analytical commentary by Hollywood cinematographer John Bailey. The trailer, showing some alternate takes of some shots, and a selection of outtakes (also with commentary) are fascinating, as is the 40-minute featurette reconstructing Murnau’s lost film “Four Devils” from stills, titles and production art. A new 20-page booklet has photos and discusses the film’s restoration and the different versions.

Because few people have BluRay drives in their computers, Eureka has put downloadable files of the original “Four Devils” and “Sunrise” scripts on their website (http://www.mastersofcinema.org), as well as a pdf scanned from the actual “Sunrise” scenario with notations by Murnau in German, plus a pdf of a 39-page critical essay on the film by Dudley Andrew. These are invaluable for in-depth study of the film, especially with the two alternate cuts available for comparison. The “Sunrise” BluRay is a must for any serious video collection.

“SUNRISE” on BluRay:

Movie: A
Video: A-
Audio: B (original score)
A+ (new score)
Extras: A

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